Rick Lazio on Energy & Oil

Develop alternative energy & a new energy policy

Q: Do you support conserving energy?

LAZIO: We need to develop a comprehensive energy strategy. Energy Secretary Richardson said we were napping. There was no strategy to develop alternative energy sources. There was no strategy to ask
the allies that we went to bat for in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia to boost their oil production. We need to drive down the price of energy. That will help create a more favorable business climate throughout New York.

Source: Senate debate in Manhattan
Oct 8, 2000

Support EPA and CWA; but allow drilling in ANWR

On Environment. Lazio voted against Republican bills to relax clean water regulations, strip the Environmental Protection Agency of enforcement power and help developers get zoning changes over the objection of environmentalists. (On the
other hand, the Republican budget he supported in 1995 included many items opposed by environmentalists, including one that would have allowed oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.)

Source: David Rosenbaum, New York Times
Jun 4, 2000

Allow experimenting for voluntary greenhouse gas reductions

Arguing that the current regulatory situation actually does more to discourage action than to promote environmentally-conscious activity on the important issue of global climate change, Congressman Lazio introduced legislation designed to encourage
voluntary actions by industry to reduce the potential environmental problems caused by greenhouse gas emissions. Lazio’s ‘‘Credit for Voluntary Actions’‘ bill, H.R. 2520, sets up a voluntary program that allows a broad spectrum of U.S. businesses to
participate in ways that make fiscal sense for them. It does not create a regulatory program or encourage buying into any international agreements. It simply authorizes companies to reduce greenhouse gases without fear of punishment later.

This bill
represents a ‘‘New Environmentalism’‘ where environmental regulation will no longer be a zero-sum game. This legislation successfully combines the interests of both industry and environmental groups in a way that is mutually beneficial and unprecedented.